Sunday, February 03, 2013

JOHN KERRY BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE, AND WHOM DOES HE CALL?

NEWLY sworn-in US Secretary of State John Kerry has telephoned Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to say they should meet on peace efforts, a presidential spokesman says.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa that the two discussed "the necessity to hold meetings in the near future to talk about a number of issues which help maintain the peace process".

According to Wafa, Kerry assured Abbas on Sunday that "US President Barack Obama cares about the peace process and supports efforts related to it", and that the US administration was aware of the Palestinians' current financial crisis.

It was the first high-level contact between Obama's new administration and the Palestinian government.

Kerry met with Abbas several times while serving as chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.